Gavin Harrison Wins Best Progressive Drummer Award

Gavin Harrison, drummer for English alt-prog band Porcupine Tree has won Modern Drummer Magazine's readers' poll for "Best Progressive Drummer" ahead of Mike Portnoy of Dream Theatre. Portnoy has dominated the award from 1995 through 2006, and the results for 2007 will be printed in the July issue of the magazine, which comes out next week.

In other news, as recently reported, a 20-minute interview with Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, in which he explains the concepts behind the disturbing video clip for the bands' title track from their new album Fear of a Blank Planet, and discusses his views on modern life, can be viewed at this location.

Finally! I'm happy to see Gavin get awarded for his efforts. He is one hell of a drummer and a part of an awesome band. I'm sure many people here don't know much about Porcupine Tree, but take a listen and you will see how awesome of a drummer Gavin is, but also how great the band is as a whole.

If you check them out keep in mind that they are not a metal band but they are a prog band that plays metal from time to time if it adds to the effect they want to give in a cartian song.

"The 11 minute mark on Anesthetize tore my head off." I agree that drum blast by Gavin is insane. I think "Fear of a Blank Planet" really shows Gavin's drumming at its best. PT really knows how to use metal in their sound and it always works!

Fantastic! Gavin is my favorite drummer right now. Nice to see a great musician like him rewarded. Quite honestly, I don't get why Portnoy won so many times. Aside from the 'calisthenic' aspect of Dream Theater, they really don't write very good songs nor are they terribly musical when compared to Porcupine Tree. Having seen both drummers up close multiple times (and being a drummer myself), Gavin is the superior musician by far in my opinion. Give a good listen to any any of his work (Porcupine Tree and others too) and you hear how he makes himself part of the music, not some guy hitting things with sticks as fast as he can.

The first time I saw and heard Gavin with PT I knew right away he would ranked as one of the Best drummers as well. This young man is remarkable, I have heard him on other projects as well and he delivers as well. I am sure Buddy Rich would say the same thing. Congrats Gavin

Finally he got what he deserved! Portnoy is a good drummer, he opened a new chapter in drumming. But, what Gavin did, he wrote a new book. The way he plays is just art. He plays with feel and for the song, not for himself. And by integrating poliritmics, illusions and displacements in his performance makes him one of the best.

As a drummer I never wanted to have a ''my favorite'' cause you can only become a good drummer by mastering a large variety of stiles. That was until i heard Gavin. His playing contains all: Feel, dinamics, complexity and tehnics, so he became my favorite. I think he'll remain there a long time...

I''ve heard that he didn't only beat Portnoy, he also surpassed Peart of Rush. That means and proves that he's one of the best!

Congrts and more than well desereved Gavin. It is Gavin that brought PT to the next level (Nothing against Chris Maitland).He can do it all and with taste!!!! Note: Please get up to date photo of PT with Gavin.

Well mainly to be different, he's not the only good drummer. There's tons of good drummers. He is good at what he does. I respect him and all but you guys act like he's the god of drumming. I do think he did desrve the award.